narutofanonfandomcom-20200222-history
A Bridge Too Far
Revelations Silence filled a ghastly underground room with a chandelier of a single light bulb illuminating the room with light. Four shinobi faced each other in a square-like system; as two faced each other and the other two faced each other, each with a ram handseal. "Yep... That's it... I can't feel his signature..." the brown-haired woman broke the silence, a drop of a tears emanating from her left eye. From the dark part of the room stood twenty shinobi, dressed in the attire of Yumegakure, each trained to perfect their skills. Their stance was the same as they stepped closer, creating a circle around the four shinobi, whilst still focused on the middle of the square created by the latter. The four members of Zenith took simultaneous step backwards, until being the equivalent distance from the middle along with the other twenty shinobi. They all kneeled down, with the exception of the four, and removed scrolls, unwrapping them on the ground. Once that was done, the four leaders of this establishment made simultaneous handseals, before slamming their right hands downwards simultaneously. "Combined Summoning Jutsu!" all four yelled in unison. Due to their flawless mastery over this technique, adding the fact that it was assisted by twenty skilled shinobi, it allowed them to summon people or objects from literally anywhere without contracts, breaking the laws and boundaries of space-time. After a brief puff of smoke, a corpse rested in the middle. Blood dripped from it's mouth and several joints. Fukkatsu ran to the battered corpse of the bullet of the leaf, grasping and holding tightly to his head as she sobbed. Reikon and Takeya mantained their emotions, as the beautiful Uchiha fixated his eyes on the ground. "Uhm... Fukkatsu..." Reikon tried to speak to the woman. "WHAT!" was a cold response which she could conjure. Ignoring the tone, he spoke with confidence, as he was infront of his subjects. "I can... I can bring him back..." Those words deemed themselves to be the light in her broken, devoid heart as she rose, letting go of the corpse of Gekihen. Taking a few steps backwards, she folded her arms, awaiting what's to come. Reikon stepped closer, raising his left hand upwards with two fingers pointing upwards, and one of the twenty shinobi came closer, already having knowledge of what comes next. "You're gonna be remembered for your sacrifice, I assure you..." Reikon spoke to the shinobi as he lyed down on his back besides the corpse. Changing to his spirit form, Reikon weaved a few handseals before placing his hands on both the man and the corpse's chest. "Cycle of Life Seal" the man yelled as light emanated from both the men on the ground. The injuries inflicted upon Gekihen, were now occuring within the shinobi as he died, with Gekihen's wounds disappearing. The bullet of Konoha opened his eyes to see the shinobi around them, when he looked at himself, he saw no sign of his beast, with the only chakra of the Nanabi being the one sealed within his student for later purposes. The bullet clenched his fist in anger, before he was covered by a warm hug from Fukkatsu. "Gekihen... I thought you were a goner..." the woman spoke, her usual serious and deceptive demenour broken by her love for Gekihen. The sight of this made Gekihen's heart rate, "wow... That smile... Genuine tears... I've never seen this side of her." the man spoke, his eyes wide open and his mouth gaping. Forcing himself to be calm, he stood up, turning to Reikon. "Thank you... It is good to see that my own ideals and life is held with such value by you, Reikon." Gekihen spoke calmly, as Reikon merely smiled and nodded. "Yes, Gekihen-sama" the Faint Spirit spoke, having returned to his body. "Guess it's back to square one..." Takeya spoke, releasing a loud sigh. "They'll pay for this...!" Tsukihime loudly spoke, and Gekihen looked at her, "No. Let's ignore these events... Revenge is a dish best served cold, and what better way than abducting the Eight-Tails so they can never hope to truly accomplish their goal, which I assume is collecting all Nine Beasts or their Chakra." Gekihen spoke calmly. Walking towards the exit, he was surprise to see that he could not see from the other side with his eyes. Seeing his confused face, Tsukihime divulged the information to the Zenith. "There is a seal placed, and it was not for you... We have a new member." she spoke with her bored tone, casually walking towards the exit as the 19 shinobi remained, waiting for their leaders to exit, as a sign of respect. "Is that so..." Gekihen inquired, speaking with a smug grin in his visage, pondering what's to come. "It is I, Shikizaki" Shikizaki walked out from the darkness, viewing Gekihen with interest. Seeing his haggard state, broken attire, and the remnants of tears on some of their faces, he quickly concluded that Gekihen was heavily injured before, or had potentially been dead. "So I see you guys have had a rough time, and from what little I have heard, you guys seek the Tailed Beasts, am I correct?" Shikizaki mused to himself, already knowing the answer. Meanwhile, everyone could sense the literal Tailed Beast level reserves coming off from Shikizaki, a testament to his reserves. "Well I believe I could help with that, but before anything can be done..." Shikizaki emitted Chakra from the Stone of Life (which everyone couldn't see nor sense, and could only assume it came from Shikizaki's chakra prowess), "We need to patch you back to shape, Leader Gekihen" Shikizaki spoke, subservient as per the honour of Mercenaries. While the damage done had been healed, Shikizaki could feel that Gekihen's strength was still... lacking in ways. Shikizaki joined the group for a few monetary benefits, as well as an interest in expanding his contact with the outside world, and from what he saw, this was definitely going to be interesting. Changes in The Wind Looking at the man whom had just rejuvinated his body, he shifted his head towards Takeya. "Who's the saint?" he asked, referring to the Hyuga before them. Being a top-tier spy, Takeya's skills on obtaining such information were among the best in the world, with intel far surpassing even Kabuto Yakushi. He was literally heralded as one of the best spy the world has ever produced. "Shikizaki Hyuga... A mercenary hailing from Kumo, originally in Konoha... And he's no saint." the young man added, brushing through his hair. "What a coincidence, that was our next objective... Interesting." Gekihen pointed out. "But before that, I need... A display of your power and skills. I won't risk it with wildcards, even with reputed mercenaries." he added, then stepped backwards. The Four Other members stepped forwards. Tsukihime's crimson eyes spiralled into existence, with 3 tomoe visible in each eye. Reikon released a special kunai from his holster, Takeya's forehead ignited in flames as his own special eyes glowed. Fukkatsu, on the other hand, remained with his arms folded, clad in her signature "revealing" outfit. "Take your pick, Hyuga." "So one of the Uchiha are here..." Shikizaki mused to himself. He saw that she had enormous chakra reserves, though nowhere near his own monstrous levels. Seeing Takeya's Kekkei Genkai, he was also interested in fighting Takeya as well, though, since he had to make a choice... "It's against Mercenary regulations to show off their skills, but I'll make an exception, just this once. Tsukihime, show me what you got." Shikizaki stepped backward, entering a seemingly casual stance filled with openings. His byakugan wasn't even active. The beautiful crimson-eyed lady smirked, placing a hand in his holster, she took out an eye scope and placed it in her left eye. "Well then, it seems you'll be the first crippled Zenith member." she snarled. The wind kept blowing her hair to the left, and within a blink of an eye, she was gone. A moment after, a fireball roared from the sky, towards Shikizaki as the other members vanished, watching the fight from a distance. Shikizaki formed a Clone occupying his actual position, as he used the cover of the fire to head underground in an instant. As the fire struck the ground, the clone was completely unfazed, Shikizaki, through the clone, looked up at Tsukihime and said, "Is that all you got?" Shikizaki then had the clone mimic the handsigns for a Shadow Clone Technique, as the real Shikizaki dived deeper into the ground to seep more chakra in it. The Shadow Clones unleashed a massive fireball alongside a Wind Release: Wave of Resurgence, creating an inferno which traversed the distance between the clones and Tsukihime in an instant, giving her little to no time to react. There were a few shadow clones facing in different directions as well, surrounding the supposedly real Shikizaki as they prepared for a further assault. Even with her Sharingan, Tsukihime would find it nigh impossible to differentiate the clones due to the immense amounts of chakra being emitted by Shikizaki throughout the area. Tsukihime, in the air, had difficulty differentiating between the clones, but that was not her biggest problem, as a massive inferno plunged itself towards her. She weaved a few handseals before deeply inhaling, expelling a tremendous huge wall of flames towards the incoming inferno, it's sheer majestic prowess setting large areas ablaze as it would engulf the incoming inferno, despite it's wind enhancement. "A show of power? Now that's interesting." Shikizaki mused to himself as his clones utilized the massive chakra output from the clashing techniques to unleash a Massive number of wind and fire enhanced Shuriken, travelling at massive speeds. As fire did not possess a force, while they clashed, the Shuriken was clear and capable of passing through the inferno, enhancing its offensive capacity and using the cover of fire to reach the target extremely quickly. Some of the shuriken were even Tempest Shuriken, which enhanced the power of Shikizaki's offensive fire technique, allowing it to match Tsukihime's Great Fire Annihilation and give her the impression that he was focusing all his attention in countering her technique, as he masked more sneak attacks undercover. Shikizaki's remaining clones also used Storm Release: Laser Circus, literally firing the lasers through the fire, using the explosions as cover to blindside Tsukihime if she attempted to avoid the Shuriken. Meanwhile, the real Shikizaki underground had already formed more shadow clones and located them throughout the area, hidden in the Earth Walls via the Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique, which were strategically placed to allow Shikizaki to execute future combos. The clone which pretended to take Shikizaki's position was pretending to be alongside the clones supporting the Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation, to hold back Tsukihime. As she spewed the flames, small shuriken flunged out of the flames, with two hitting her left arm and another hitting her left thigh. This immediately caused her to stop her attack and deduce that her position was volatile and could be fatal if she continues. Acting on impulse, she disappeared with the wind once again, appearing on the ground. Blood dripped from her left hand and leg, as her eyes glowed in anger. Her fingers became engulfed in flames as she slammed them down, with a cylindrical barrier of flames erupting around Tsukihime and her opponents. This barrier spanned 35 metres around Tsukihime, whom is the exact epicentre, and could easily incinerate those attempting to exit. Tsukihime formed a cross-handseal, and a clone puffed out of existence. "This way, I'll eliminate them easier." she murmured to herself, a smirk creeping out of her visage. Shikizaki's clones were now within the Uchiha Flame Formation, and they weren't surprised in the least. Because while the barriers trapped them, they had also trapped Tsukihime. Around Tsukihime, Shikizaki's clones which were underground used Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall and rapidly grew Earth surrounding Tsukihime. Another group of clones, which rapidly moved on top of the Earth Wall all began spitting immense amounts of chakra infused Earth onto Tsukihime, which would cover her body and grow into walls of immense sizes, suppressing Tsukihime's ability to retaliate. The supposedly real Shikizaki was also perched atop the wall as well, with the last shadow clone using Chakra Threads to drag Tsukihime's clone away from the other clones attacking Tsukihime. An Eye For An Eye Tsukihime, however, had her own plans, and kept track of her opponent's attacks. As the walls erupted around her, Tsukihime disappeared once again, appearing high above the mud walls. Meanwhile, her clones kept track of the incoming threads of chakra, leaping away and instantaneously re-appearing like a thunderbolt beside the clone of Shikizaki, thus catching him with the electricity of her teleportation. She now perched atop the earth-like structure, her tomoe spinning furiously. Above, the clouds had darkened due to the massive smoke created by the flames both shinobi spewed earlier, with the addition of the flaming barrier. The clone dissipated a moment later, as a massive thunderous dragon roared down towards the ground. It's destructive potency, along with the small space, ensured that these clones would all be destroyed within seconds, as well as creating a huge crater, ensuring their demise. For some weird reason Tsukihime ignored the 8 clones perched atop the earth structure blasting the mud from Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall at her, literally covering her with mud. Therefore, even if she did jump upwards as the Earth Wall grew, there was already mud coming down from atop her. This made it relatively impossible for her to escape upward, due to the mud literally blocking the top as a form of escape. If she did escape though, these clones would have targeted the single clone which Tsukihime made. Shikizaki's clone, being intangible and therefore massless, dodged the Aether technique with the utmost of ease, as the 8 clones targeted her with Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall as the Chakra Threads Combat user cut off all forms of escape. As the Kirin flew down, it destroyed the massive Earth structure, but the clones managed to leap away in time, as the Earth Walls were very large. The clones, knowing that Tsukihime is in the sky, continued aiding Shikizaki in using the Chakra Exertion Technique, saturating the air and the ground with Shikizaki's Chakra. "I've had enough of this! Tsukihime snarled, her temper getting the best of her. "Heavenly Destruction Battle Encampment!" the young woman cried out as she began chanelling chakra through both hands. An instant later, a flash commenced as both hands of Tsukihime were grasped. "That's enough..." Gekihen spoke towards Tsukihime. "If you keep throwing tantrums like that, you'll destroy this land. This is our HQ, I won't have that here." the bullet continued. Taking out a sigh, Tsukihime weaved handseals in the air, before dissipating her flaming walls. She began to descent, along with the blue-haired leader as the other members revealed themselves. "Tsukihime... The guy's pushing you to your limits without even being there..." Takeya chuckled as he spoke. "Have you become so weak?". Those words struck a nerve to Tsukihime, whom gave Takeya a threatening look, her facial expression alone making his blood run cold. "Well done, Hyuga. Well done, indeed." Shikizaki re-emerged from the ground, walking through the cylindrical wall of flames by emitting an appropriate amount of fire chakra from his Tenketsu. "Trust me, Tsukihime is not weak at all - in fact, she is quite powerful." Shikizaki replied as he dismissed Takeya's claims. "I, myself have once been in the same situation as her, until I learned from a certain Mercenary, whom I have learned quite a few things from..." Shikizaki spoke as he recalled his experiences with other mercenaries and friends. "Anyway, cheers to a good business with you guys. Great employers you are, capable of actually fighting to boot." Shikizaki said as he went to shake Tsukihime's hand, saying, "And that was a great battle. Look forward to working with you." Tsukihime, in pure rage within, decided to suppress his anger, and walked away, not even bothering to shake Shikizaki's hand. Gekihen watched as this unfolded, and decided to ignore it too, turning his attention to Shikizaki. "Shikizaki, without wasting time, I want to speak to you about our goals as Zenith. For long time, peace was ephemeral, due to the mistakes of our past hereoes and their naïve nature. However, I plan to achieve eternal peace within this world through our special weapon, which you will know at the right time. For now, I want you to find and capture the Shukaku and return it to us. You will be greatly rewarded, and you may choose a team with which you will complete this task. The first will is Team Crimson, which is Takeya and Tsukihime. The second is Team Jade, consisting of Reikon as well as 19 well-versed shinobi of Yumegakure. The third is Team Fukkatsu, which consists of... Well, Fukkatsu herself." Gekihen looked at the man in the eyes as he spoke, "Take your pick." "Wow, the Shukaku? You guys are really going in." Shikizaki commented, perceiving the gravity of the situation. "So, I need a partner huh. Normally I don't work in groups but if I had to take a pick it'd be... Fukkatsu. The less people there are, the less I'll have to look out for when going all out." Shikizaki replied. The brown-haired lady smiled as she stepped closer to Shikizaki, "Any funny stuff and I'll roast you alive." whispered the woman in Shikizaki's ear as she passed by him, walking away from the others. After taking a bit of distance, she turned back to the others. "Don't miss me to much..." said Fukkatsu, blowing a butterfly towards them, which fluttered it's wings, graciously landing on the ground in between them. "Well, you coming or not, Mr. Mercenary?" she asked in a seemingly seductive town, continuing to walk away. "I work at my own pace, milady." Shikizaki said as he walked out with her. "So, anything I need to know about Shukaku? Where is it located?" Shikizaki asked. Fukkatsu raised an eyebrow as she turned to her partner, "Where is the Shukaku? What kinda question is that? Any mercenary would know that it's in the sand?" pondered the lady in her mind. Reikon held his chuckle within as Takeya burst out in laughter. "Uh... It's in.. Sunagakure." Gekihen pointed out, mantaining his calm demeanour whilst holding down a chuckle of his own. "Anyway... We'd better get going... See you all in a while... Try to keep up mercenary." Fukkatsu mused as the butterfly burst into a blinding light for a moment, after the flash, she had disappeared. "You know that's not information at all, right?" Shikizaki replied, a serious look still etched on his face. "I was asking about his specific location within Suna." Shikizaki clarified once more. It was one thing for them to mock his skills, another for them to treat such an important question as if it were a joke. "Anyway, it seems Fukkatsu is off, so I must be going." Shikizaki spoke, as he used Chakra Movement to burst out of the area at incredible speeds.